Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Colour Unleashed Modern Art in the Low Countries 1885-1914

Gemeentemuseum 3 October 2015 – 3 January 2016

In the brief period between 1885 and the outbreak of war in
1914 painting in the Low countries experienced a modern Renaissance.
Colour was liberated from the chains of visual reality. Suddenly, grass
could be a cool blue, a face could be bright purple, and trees turned
red. Colour had become an autonomous means of expression. This was one
of the most important developments in modern art history. The
inspiration came from the French Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists,
but the artists of the Low Countries added their own flavour.
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag is to bring these Dutch and Belgian masters
together to reveal the interaction between the two countries, which
included both pronounced differences and similarities. This unique
exhibition has been made possible thanks partly to the current
renovation of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, as a result of
which some of the top items in its collection can now travel to other
museums. From the French ‘godfathers of colour’ – Claude Monet, Paul
Signac,

Henri Matisse and Paul Cézanne and the like – to the masters of
the Low Countries, such as Leo Gestel, Jan Toorop, Piet Mondrian, James
Ensor, Jan Sluijters, Henry van de Velde and Rik Wouters: they will all
be brought together in a true feast for the eye.

The story of the modern Renaissance in the Low Countries began in
1883 at artists’ society Les Vingt in Brussels. There, artists including
Theo van Rysselberghe, Jan Toorop and Henry van de Velde first
encountered the Impressionism and Pointillism of French fellow artists
Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and others. This made a deep
impression on the Belgian and Dutch artists. They then developed from
followers of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism into the founders of
modern art, in which the medium of colour was separated from visual
reality. Thanks to Toorop, modern art spread via Brussels to The Hague
and Amsterdam, where it gave rise to Amsterdam Luminism. Influenced by
the work of Vincent van Gogh, artists like Mondrian, Sluijters and
Gestel used colour and form as a means to express their own personal
perceptions. This resulted in powerful and sensational colour
combinations, as in

Mondrian’s Windmill in Sunlight

or Sluijters’ Moonlit Night II, Laren.

It was no coincidence that this modern Renaissance took place at such
a tumultuous time. The period 1885-1914 was full of optimism and
continual discovery. Confidence in the future, enthusiasm, but also the
uncertainty that is always associated with innovation typify the art of
the period. Take for example

With over 100 magnificent
artworks – combined with photographs, letters and other archive material
– Colour Unleashed will recount how developments followed each
other in rapid succession until the First World War brought everything
to a standstill.

Rik Wouters

The exhibition will include a special focus on Belgian artist Rik
Wouters (1882-1916). In his short life, this painter and sculptor
produced an exquisite body of work. His paintings, many of them
featuring his wife Nel, vibrate with colour and light. He is a great
favourite with the Belgian public, but in the Netherlands he has never
received the attention his work deserves. An entire gallery will
therefore be devoted to him during the exhibition.

Restoration project

In preparation for Colour Unleashed the Gemeentemuseum has
worked on a project that has included a technical study and restoration
of a number of important paintings from the collection. The team of
restorers focused on the original colours in the paintings, which had
changed over the years due to dirt and discoloration. The varnish was
removed and the paint surface cleaned to reveal the original layers of
paint, allowing the paintings to glow as the artists intended. For
instance, the somewhat gloomy

Baby’s Bedroom by Jan Sluijters suddenly dazzles in pink and yellow,

and the green in Little House in Sunlight by Piet Mondrian turns out to consist of many shades of blue,

while the flowers in the garden in Jan Toorop’s Trio Fleuri bloom in full colour once more. A number of works on loan have also been specially restored for the exhibition.

The exhibition is being staged in close collaboration with the Royal
Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp and is part of a special year of events
celebrating the cultural ties between the Netherlands and Flanders.

Kees van Dongen, Portret van Dolly, 1909.

A catalogue with contributions from Frouke van Dijke, Doede Hardeman,
Anita Hopmans, Hans Janssen, Caroline Rodenburg and Herwig Todts is to
be published in Dutch in conjunction with the exhibition.